5 Signs Your Sales Team is Inefficient

Your sales team is the heart of your business. They’re the ones making the sales, connecting with customers, and providing that hands-on connection to your customers. If your sales team is efficient, your sales run smoothly, and your customers will be pleased. On the other hand, if your sales team isn’t working efficiently, doesn’t learn from its mistakes, and is struggling to keep up with customers, you may be missing out on vital sales for your business. Worried that your sales team isn’t as efficient as you’d hoped? Check out these key signs.

Sign #1: Your Sales Team Constantly Has Questions for Others

No, every salesperson can’t know everything about every product–and it’s always okay to ask questions! If, however, your sales team always has to consult with someone else before they can close a sale, it’s a sign that they aren’t performing as efficiently as they could. Instead, make sure you’re providing your sales team with effective training and all of the information they need to close their sales–including tools that can streamline the sales process so that salespeople have fewer questions about what they’re doing.

Sign #2: You Aren’t Getting Referrals

Are your customers generating more customers for your business? Do they tell new customers about you? Satisfied customers are eager to send others to your business, from friends and family members to individuals in their industries who have needs similar to theirs. If you aren’t getting referral traffic, it’s because your salespeople aren’t reaching your customers as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Sign #3: Your Sales Team Has Plenty of Meetings, but Few New Clients

You want new clients, but getting them can be a challenge–especially if you don’t have a process in place that can pre-qualify prospects to determine whether or not they will genuinely benefit from your services–and can afford them. As a result, your team may use up a lot of time in meetings with prospects they shouldn’t have been spending time on in the first place.

Sign #4: You Have High Staff Turnover

One of the most glaring signs that your sales team isn’t as efficient as it could be is high sales turnover. Do you almost always have open positions? Do you feel as though you’re constantly in the middle of training a new employee? Typically, high turnover is a sign that you aren’t providing your employees with the tools they need to accomplish their jobs successfully. From the wrong tools to inadequate training, your sales team simply isn’t able to meet their goals–and as a result, they’re taking their talents elsewhere.

Sign #5: It’s Hard to Find Anything

Data is incomplete or missing in your CRM program. Papers are scattered everywhere, and it’s hard to keep up with anything. If disorganization is a normal part of the business day for your sales team, they’re missing out on valuable opportunities to make sales–not to mention putting out a bad first impression of your business when customers approach them.

Keeping Your Sales Team Efficient

Maintaining sales efficiency is an ongoing challenge. There are, however, several things you can do to help improve efficiency. Try some of these strategies:

Make sure your sales team has adequate training–and make sure that it’s mandatory.

Assess minimum information in your CRM–and hold your sales team to that standard.

Maintain organization throughout your facility. Create a system for storing important items, and make sure everyone knows where they are and where they go.

Offer your staff the right tools. See what they need to do their job effectively, then make sure they have it.

Providing your sales team with the right tools will go a long way toward improving their efficiency and giving them a better opportunity to connect with customers, which will, as a result, increase your sales. By increasing overall efficiency, you can do a better job of improving client connections and increasing the return on your investment in your sales team.